Chapter 15: The Pack Turns
Valentina’s heel slid half an inch on the polished stone before she caught herself.
The hall had closed around her without anyone needing to say move. Wolves shifted in little increments, bodies angling toward Isabela, shoulders making a wall around the pregnant woman and a narrowing ring around Valentina. No one touched her. They did not have to. Their fear did the work first, pressing hot against her skin, thick with anger, protectiveness, old obedience, and the ugly relief of having a target that was not themselves.
Isabela stood near the family wing with both hands over her belly.
“She wants to take everything from me,” Isabela said, and her voice broke in exactly the right place.
Duke turned halfway toward Valentina, caught between the woman carrying hi
